I think Hillsdale does somehow link the kids email to the parents. DH did give a donation to them and DS has been getting a lot of email’s,mail and even a few calls from them. He’s not interested.
Hillsdale is stalking D as well.
Finally, DS got phone call from a college. He filled that college’s card last year to get a t shirt @ robotics tournament 
Well, dd finally submitted her application from last night. She called admissions and they told her to submit it under the essay topic of her choosing. 1st one in!!!
@snoozn What about the 'Bama Llamas!?
My D got her schedule finalized so she was able to submit her first application!
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Yesterday at 3:23 pm I wish there was a school with scholarships like Alabama that was closer to us that didn't have avg temps of 100+. Is that being too picky? <<<<
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I hope you realize that those occasional high temps are IN THE SUMMER…not during the school year. Alabama has truly wonderful weather.
@MichiganGeorgia <<<Have you looked at Auburn? I think NM scholarship is tuition plus 1 year housing. They are supposed to have a good band. Some of DS13’s friends went there for engineering instead of GT and are in the band.<<<<
No…not full tuition for OOS. Almost…at Auburn, their NMF award is for 4 years and covers only $22k of OOS tuition…so about $5k short per year.
Hi all! App progress is so impressive – congrats! Re the Rice fee waiver email … are your kids NMSFs (or was it really based on subject tests?) DS’s subject tests were good (750-780 range) but other scores have been better. And real question is if it’s OK to apply through this fee waiver option or does that disadvantage you in some way? We were not really considering Rice before as an option but might now. Thanks!
School started three weeks ago, and we had the Senior Parent Night.
It was pretty well-organized and informative, but nothing was new to me since I have been on this thread for 1012 pages! :))
It was nice to hear that the LOR will be sent out by October 24th (deadline for teachers) if only DS17 makes the requests [-(
So that makes two things arriving at colleges before essays/application - LORs and FAFSA. b-(
After general timelines and application info and before FAFSA and CSS presentation by an outside consultant,
presented was info about ordering cap and gown and reserving graduation tickets! 
X_X :(( :((
@mom2collegekids My wording might not have been entirely clear - Alabama is too far for us in this case. The most similar school merit scholarship-wise is ASU where it’s really dang hot. Might have him apply anyway just to have something in our back pocket. Still undecided on that - could get us a nice dinner with that application fee. But peace of mind may be worth it. Hmm…
@youcee NM kids do really well with scholarship at Alabama. Too far is a frame of mind, however my child isn’t very far from home as a student at UA.
It really is a wonderful campus. DD is taking advantage of one of the honor programs (STEM MBA). That particular program and Emerging Scholars (for getting into research as a freshman) are fairly sizable honor programs (in addition to the general honors program).
Some food for thought on why UA is what it is and some stats showing many do come from far away states to attend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrV8g7kxJps this explains how the University has been shaped over the last 14 years
UA has updated its Quick Facts http://viewbook.ua.edu/quick-facts/
(2014 enrollment breakdown by state - new undergraduates - which would be freshmen for the most part): http://oira.ua.edu/d/webreports/enrollment2/Fall_2014/f18.html
http://oira.ua.edu/d/webreports/enrollment2/Fall_2015/e10.html
This URL gives FALL 2015 data for all of the university (not just freshmen).
@mom2a physicsgeek- TY for sharing the PPT. The information was quite enlightening.
Yes, middle class trustfundian. Who knew? =) I didn’t ask about the trust fund, because that would be super rude, but I’m assuming a wealthy relative set it up for the kids. It explains why he appears completely at ease about colleges and isn’t that interested in taking tests. D18 is still mad at me about it. I want to say if your boyfriend can’t handle a somewhat meddling mom, he’s not the guy for you, but I think that would just make things worse so I’m just keeping my mouth shut about the whole thing.
It’s an interesting thought experiment-what if you had $500k (a number I pulled out of the air) for your two kids that was just set up for school, and you didn’t have to worry at all about them graduating with debt (or you living in a cardboard box). Would it affect where my D’s are applying?
Probably I would add a few private LAC’s for older D, but I’m not really sure. She knows she wants to do CS, she knows she wants to be in a walkable city. Definitely would open up the options for D18, who is more of an “average” student grade-wise and doesn’t really know what she wants to do yet.
@SOSConcern thanks for sharing those videos. I really like Bama as an option for D17 but she’s not enthused about it. Maybe after we visit it, and I’ll show her the videos this Sunday during college chat.
My big school job today is requesting all of the transcripts be sent. I’m happy that six of her schools are on the Common App, so really I have that one, and then 3 others. The school has a way to do it online and pay online, hopefully it will work.
Oh, hey, in funny news, I have a 4.0 at college since I started last year and a “national honor fraternity” sent me an email inviting me to join. They used “it’s” as a possessive. Fail!
Congrats to all of the national merit semi-finalists and those with completed apps and even acceptances! You all are an impressive bunch.
We received a record high number of college mailers yesterday, including a thick book from Miami (Florida) as well as something from Miami of Ohio so it was a Miami double-hitter. My son has (I believe) only received phone calls from Tippins. Not sure why they are so interested as to call.
@Sorrento, DS received Rice fee waiver e-mail. He is not MFSF, PSAT score wasn’t high enough, but his subject scores and actual SAT scores were quite good. I don’t think they will hold it against you if you apply using the fee waiver. I hadn’t even thought about that possibility! Rice is a top choice for DS right now.
So weird, Miami (Ohio) was on our list and we even visited and she had a departmental visit. Maybe her dislike of the school showed on her face somehow? Because we haven’t even received so much as an email since the visit! And she would likely qualify for significant merit there.
@MotherOfDragons …interesting questions. I’m not sure I would let an 18 y/o blow through a trust fund like that. $500K is a good chunk of change and to let your kid go full on to a private LAC @60K a year would no doubt take away half of that $$. I would still be pushing cost vs. ROE and benefits.
Miami (Ohio) goes for the double confusion with being in Oxford. No, the other one. But it is in Florida, right? Oops.
MFSF = mother father superfund? 
@MotherOfDragons Interesting question. For D, the answer is no. We would still be merit chasing.
I’m sure my D would apply ED to Brown.